


The Iceman

by rougewinter



Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-28
Updated: 2012-05-28
Packaged: 2017-11-06 04:50:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/414873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rougewinter/pseuds/rougewinter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>‘I know who you are.’ He says, fearless despite the cold weight that sinks onto his stomach. ‘You’re The Iceman.’</i> <br/>Slight fairytale AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Iceman

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to [alphera](http://alphera.livejournal.com/) for the beta work.

When he was still just a boy, wide-eyed and curious about the world, his Gran used to tell him the legend of _The Iceman_. A man who traded his emotions, his humanity, to feel no pain -- wandering the ages alone, drawn to suffering hearts, willing to inflict his chill upon those who wished for an end to their despair, for those who wished for the ice to consume them. 

She taught him that the only way to ward off _The Iceman_ was to love, fully and unconditionally; for if he did, _The Iceman_ could never find him and his heart would never be frozen.

Years later, when he slid the wedding ring onto his smiling bride’s finger, he had thought, rather naively, that such an endless love was not that hard to find. 

He had almost forgotten his Gran’s story, until, one night, upon entering the empty house he once shared with his estranged wife, he meets a man with cold blue eyes that shone brighter than the moon, despite the darkness he could see in the stranger’s soul.

‘I know who you are.’ He says, fearless, despite the cold weight that sinks into his stomach. ‘You’re The Iceman.’

A wry smile and the slight tilt of the stranger’s head acknowledge his suspicions. 

He stands his ground as he watches _The Iceman_ come closer. 

‘Are you here to make the pain go away?’ 

‘Would you like me to?’ He had always expected _The Iceman’s_ voice to sound frigid and caustic. Instead, he hears a deep and rich tone that makes him feel... safe. Protected. 

He thinks back to his Gran’s warning and his promise to never let the cold into his heart. He thinks back to happier days and nights nestled beside the one who had fooled him into thinking he was loved. He thinks of the loneliness that now plagues his waking hours and haunts his sleepless nights; chewing him ragged and eating him whole. 

His decision to reach for _The Iceman’s_ outstretched hand is an easy one. 

He wishes for the frost to consume him quickly, for the ache in his heart to disappear. 

But it never happens. 

For no one, not even his Gran, knew that _The Iceman’s_ curse could be broken by the one whose heart could never be turned to ice; by a heart that loves so freely and so completely that it could melt the bitter darkness of _The Iceman’s_ own, frozen, one. 

-end-


End file.
